Page 7 of Rescued By the Dour Demon

The lawyer was a seriously good-looking man, the hard planes of his face and nose softened in the warm light of his office. A scruff of dark stubble covered his square jaw. Her heart beat faster and a slight flush crept up her neck as eyes such a deep blue they were almost black focused on her. No ring on his long, elegant finger, though that didn’t mean he wasn’t attached. Unfortunately, she’d found that out the hard way before shelearned to always double-check profiles and social media before diving deeper into any kind of situationship.

“You married?” she blurted out. Her cheeks heated as she cursed her impulsive mouth. One of these days, her brain would stop that mouth of hers before it spewed its nonsense.

The corner of his lip quirked up. “I am not currently married, nor am I seeing anyone.”

“Yeah, me neither. Tough out there.”Tough out there? Geeze, Ro. What the actual fuck is wrong with you? This man is a lawyer and a professional, and you’re treating this like you’re picking him up in a bar. Get it together, girl.“Sorry,” she said, waving her hands as if she could erase what she just said. “Anyway…”

The word hung awkwardly in the air until he took up the conversational baton. “So glad you could make it to our meeting, Ms. Burnay.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Rowan, please.”

He gave her a smile that warmed her right to the tips of her toes. “Then please, call me Leith. Shall we proceed?” He shifted, opening a leather binder holding a legal pad and uncapping his pen before setting his phone to record. His finger hovered over the button. “Okay if I record this?”

“Sure.”

“You hired me to help your grandmother, who I understand is having trouble with someone trying to force her into selling her property.”

“Wait.” She set her drink and the ball of crinkled parchment paper that once held a delicious pastry on the wide expanse of his nearly empty desk and scooted to the edge of her seat. “What do you mean, I hired you? I haven’t hired anyone.”

His smile grew, his dark eyes sparkling with secrets. “Are you so certain?” He pulled out a shiny quarter from his pocket and rolled it across his knuckles in a steeplechase flourish.

Her gaze darted from the coin to his face and back again, realization dawning. “No,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him and concentrating, cracking open his glamour to reveal the red-skinned demon beneath. She leapt to her feet and pointed a stiff finger at him. “No. What the fuck, demon? We finished that deal. I paid the offering, said the words. We’re done,” she said with a slash of her hand before pivoting on her heel, a cloud of anger boiling in her wake.

But before she could complete her dramatic exit, his office door slammed closed, the lock turning with a loud click. She twisted the handle, the lock resisting her attempts to open it. “Let me out of here right now.”

Her heart pounded in her chest as she struggled with the door. Last night’s poor decision-making had come back to haunt her. She jumped when he put a warm hand over hers.

“Rowan, please,” he said, his voice low and gentle. “I mean you no harm. I promise.”

Oddly, she believed him. Her racing heart steadied as the heat from his large hand seeped into her icy fingers, his tall presence not so much looming as protective.

Still, she was disgruntled, and he needed to know it. Pulling her hand out from under his, she glared up at him and poked at his hard chest. “Keeping me here against my will is technically kidnapping. You’re a lawyer; you know this.”

“I do.” He gestured towards their seats. “But we have unfinished business, you and I.”

She stomped over to her chair and plopped down, folding her arms with a huff. “Fine. But I’m not happy about this.”

He sat, crossing one long leg over the other. “Understandable but, unfortunately, unavoidable. As I’ve said, I mean you no harm.” He gave her an intense look that made her spine tingle. “The last thing in the world I want to do is hurt you.”

She swallowed hard before capitulating. What would it cost her to hear him out? After all, Granny needed a lawyer.

6

ROWAN

“He said that?” Eloise asked, her fingers laced under her chin, brown eyes wide as Rowan recounted her meeting with the demon lawyer.

The pair of them were tucked in a corner of the local coffee shop, Roasted & Toasted, where they’d met for lunch and a recap. Eloise was perhaps a tad too into the fact that the lawyer was the crossroads demon from last night.

Rowan swallowed the bite of her fried green tomato sandwich on toasted sourdough and wiped her mouth. “Yep. Gave me this super-intense look when he said it, too.” She squirmed, remembering the way his gaze seemed to sweep over both her body and soul, finding something he liked there. “So unprofessional.”But so very hot, a tiny voice at the back of her brain added. Heat curled in her belly.

“Oh. My god.” Eloise covered her mouth, trying to hide her delighted grin. “He’s into you.”

She scoffed. “No, he’s not. He’s my lawyer. That’s it.” Except that wasn’t it. Since the moment she’d met him at that dark crossroads, there’d been this undeniable chemistry betweenthem. He’d irritated her, tricked her, and pissed her off, and still she was drawn to him, like a magnet to metal.

“Technically, he’s Granny’s lawyer. You’re just the one who accidentally hired him for her,” Eloise pointed out before taking a big bite of her grilled cheese.

“You’re not helping, El,” she grumbled.

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